CastleDvania
by Kitt Chaos
Summary: Set after Insult of the Right Hand. Castlevania has risen. Alucard has his hands full chasing after eeD. D, with Fairy's help, must solve Castlevania in Alucard's place.
1. Help!

**CastleDvania**

The mist floated slowly but with seeming purpose along the wall of the masoned tunnel. It somehow maintained a cohesive form in a sort of loose cloud. Flying along at the same speed and in the same direction as the white mist cloud was a delicate, pretty, little fairy. Her tiny face was slightly strained as if she were trying to hear a far away sound. Even the slight melodious hum of her gossamer wings was subdued. 

"Here. There's something funny about this wall," she said aloud as she turned and pointed to a blank area of wall. 

The mist seethed about for a moment before coalescing into a solid form. The man's cloak swirled about him as he crouched suddenly to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. He found that he was required to remain hunched over as the tunnel was too short for him to stand upright. 

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed in surprised displeasure. Retching sounds echoed harshly up and down the tunnel. 

Fairy giggled. "You sound just like Alucard, Master D!" 

She grinned as she teased this older brother of her master. She could have warned him the tunnel was too low for him to stand up in, but what was the fun in that? He always looked so stern and serious, with his looming height, dark cloak and wide-brimmed hat that so efficiently hid his brooding, though beautiful, eyes. Fairy wondered if she could ever tease a smile out of him, as she had been able to do on rare occasions from her master, Alucard. Putting that thought aside, she placed her hands on her hips and glared down sternly at D's left hand. 

"Turn the other way! Do you think I want to SEE that?!" she demanded. Left Hand was throwing up all over the tunnel floor. Whatever the substance was gleamed slickly in glowing lime green, ochre and muted violet tones on the floor for a moment before vanishing completely. 

"What is that anyway?" Fairy asked curiously. 

"Ectoplasm. Ugg! It tastes terrible coming back up," Left Hand barfed again. "Let's solve this damned castle so we can go home, D!" he whined. 

"All right," D replied reaching for his sword. He held it in his right hand and rapped the pommel of it firmly against the fragile wall. Due to his slightly hunched over position, it took longer than usual, but D finally broke through. He stepped through the hole and thankfully stood up straight again, brushing the stone dust off his shoulders as he did so. 

"Bravo!" a voice, an unmistakable voice D hadn't heard for many, many years, applauded. 

D looked toward the center of the room and saw his father sitting cross-legged in a chair, holding up a wineglass in a toast. 

"I wondered if you would find a way to make it!" Dracula said. 

D nodded in recognition. 

"Father." 

"D! So stiff, so formal!" Dracula remonstrated, theatrically getting up and striding over. He placed his hands on D's shoulders and looked up slightly to see into D's eyes. 

"You are well? It took me a while to realize it was you, not Alucard, solving Castlevania this time," Dracula told him. 

"The marble gallery," D stated flatly. 

"Yes!" Dracula grinned. "I had to bump the monsters up a notch to give you a challenge, didn't I? Especially as you retained your sword and armor." 

"Your hench-specter got an unwelcome surprise when he tried to take them from me," D told him. 

Dracula grinned again, baring his fangs ferally. "'Hench-specter'? I like that! Yes, Death was none to happy with you for that. He still can't find some of his teeth." 

"Come on. Sit and talk with me," Dracula urged. 

"Uhm...?" D replied uncertainly, looking around at the vast arena that was supposed to be the setting for the final big 'boss' fight of the castle. He knew that Dracula was that boss. 

"Yes, yes, we'll get to that!" Dracula sounded peevish. "I haven't seen you in ages, so why are you so eager to fight me?" 

"In Alucard's place I must protect the humans threatened by this castle," D stated. 

"You've taken care of everyone up to me. The monsters that are left are too low power to leave the castle on their own. Nothing will happen to the villagers while you talk with me." 

D still seemed unconvinced. 

"Oh, I see. You think I am merely this world's, Alucard's, version of Dracula, full of subterfuge and nefarious plans. Well, I am, but I am also your version of Dracula, too. You know I won't break my word," Dracula told him. "I really do just want to talk first. Don't worry, we will still fight." Dracula bared his fangs. "And it won't be an easy fight! You will have to earn your win against me! But later." 

Dracula walked back toward the table and chair in the center of the room and sat down. 

"There's an extra chair by the wall," he waved. "And more wine. Bring it, would you?" 

D stared at his father. Finally he sighed and sheathed his sword. He knew how stubborn his father could be. He wouldn't be able to try to win the final fight until Dracula was good and ready. 

"How are you? And Left Hand?" Dracula began politely after D had complied, bringing the chair, pouring two glasses of wine and seating himself across from his father. 

"Fine. Both of us are fine," D replied. 

"Talkative as usual!" Dracula laughed. "And Alucard's Fairy? She's your familiar now?" 

"No, she's still Alucard's familiar," D began. 

"I'm just helping D while he's here," Fairy finished, peeking her head out from her hiding place behind D's shoulder. Her wings shivered. 

"That's nice of you. D couldn't have solved the castle to get to this fight without your help," Dracula told her politely. 

"Thank you...sir..." 

"Don't fear, little one. The monsters, even us bosses, are not permitted to attack the familiars. It is one of the rules of Castlevania!" Dracula assured her. 

"Interesting rule," Left Hand piped up. "Why handicap the monsters that way?" 

"I have my reasons," Dracula told him shortly, with slight displeasure. He took a swallow of wine. 

So, D, tell me how it is you are solving Castlevania this time instead of Alucard?" though he was still pleasantly conversational, D recognized the steely demand in Dracula's voice. 

"Well..." 

******** 

D eked as much speed as he could from his horse. Aided by cybernetics, the beast was able to weave at an impressive rate of speed through the dense growth in the wood. D had been forced to camp here before. If he could help it, he'd get through to the next village instead. The annoying creatures who lived in this wood delighted in harassing anyone unlucky enough to find himself here after dark. 

D reined in his horse, bringing the beast from a full gallop to a stop in a matter of two steps. 

"Alucard," D said aloud. 

A giant vampire bat detached itself from the deep shadows of a tree and flapped over, shifting into D's brother once he was near enough to drop gracefully to the ground. 

"Well met," Alucard replied. 

D stared grimly at his brother for a long moment before grinning and swinging down from his horse's back. 

"Well met, indeed! What brings you here?" D smiled deeply, an uncomplicated smile at seeing his brother again. 

"I need help. What else?" Alucard shrugged. 

"'Ware," Left Hand warned. 

Something huge crashed through the trees at them, bellowing madly. 

"Land dragon!" Left Hand gasped. "A four-headed one, D!" 

D drew his sword and surveyed the area. Alucard did too. D felt as Alucard's perceptions locked onto and matched his. The dense tree growth, especially the branches overhead would be a significant factor in the battle, they realized as the land dragon charged toward them on eight reptilian feet. 

"Land dragons are fast and vicious. This one is too close to human population for my comfort," D said aloud. Alucard nodded. "Each head must be destroyed before the spiny crest on the neck stands up. Once it does, a solid thrust will sever the dragon's spine and kill it." 

Alucard nodded again. D could tell Alucard was thinking furiously about something and that was preventing the complete meshing of the synergy. D sensed it was about Alucard's familiars; Sword needed room, Fairy couldn't use healing on D... 

"Ghost," D said. Alucard agreed, which triggered the synergy between them. Alucard had enough time to invoke the Ghost card, summoning the glowing, flaming skull familiar, before the dragon was upon them. 

The terrain handicap didn't affect Alucard as much as D. Alucard could leap out of the way and turn into mist before colliding into the dense tree branches overhead. D opted for more ground defense, rolling and sliding through the underbrush to escape counter attacks after landing strikes of his own on the dragon. The differences in their fighting techniques made it harder to maintain the synergy. Each of them instinctively grasped toward reestablishing it if it slipped. 

Finally the fight resolved into a battle where D and Alucard, functioning as one as only they could, traded off attacking from the ground or the air fast enough to confuse the dragon. Ghost, despite his fearsome appearance, didn't have a solid form that D and Alucard had to worry about striking by accident. In fact, it was Ghost who took down the first head, draining it completely and sending the stolen life-force to Alucard as healing energy. 

D lopped off the next head as it craned back to watch Alucard leap away to escape from its attack. 

Ghost harried another head. Even though the dragon possessed enough intelligence to try to avoid Ghost's attack, it simply wasn't fast enough to get away from the determined familiar. The dragon's third head slumped over inert. 

Left Hand felt an influx of power and passed the healing along to D. Startled by the feeling, D faltered from the synergy. 

"It's just the beneficial effect of Ghost's Soul Steal," Alucard said, recognizing the feeling through the link. "We have the last head and the spine still to go!" 

D nodded, meshing again into the synergy. He drew the last dragon head's attention away from Alucard, enticing it to extend and follow him as he darted around a tree. Alucard slashed down from above, severing the head. 

The protective crest stood up, revealing the weak spot in the spine at the base of the dragon's thick, main neck. The secondary necks flailed around defensively like enraged, giant snakes. Alucard had to repeatedly assume his mist form to avoid the frantic, random attacks of the dragon's necks. D managed to sneak in under the writhing mass and thrust his sword through the sweet spot. Its spine severed, the dragon collapsed instantly. D went down under the dragon. 

"D? D!" Alucard maintained the lightest touch of the synergy so he would know where to look for his brother. He could sense D was okay, but mildly irked at something. Alucard lifted one of the massive, headless necks out of his way to find D flat on his back. D was trapped on the ground with another neck pinning his left hand firmly into the ground. Frantic, muffled screaming could be heard from under the dragon. Alucard laughed. 

"Yes, it is funny, but if you don't free him soon, I will never hear the end of it," D observed mildly. 

Alucard schooled his face into a concerned façade before reaching over and heaving the massive neck off of D's left hand. 

"Ugg! Took you long enough! Pthah!" Left Hand complained as D lifted him out of a hand-shaped depression in the ground. "Do you have any idea how nasty that thing tastes?!" 

"Are you okay?" Alucard asked. 

"Do I look okay?!" Left Hand screamed. "I've been squished, I'm all muddy, that thing's left a terrible taste in my mouth, we took long enough with this fight we're gonna hafta camp here and those damned imps or dark fairies or whatever the hell they are that live here won't leave us alone tonight..." 

Alucard glanced with surprise at D. It sounded as if Left Hand were about to cry. D's face actually bore a resigned sort of concern. 

"Let's get you washed up," D told his Left Hand as he stood up. "You'll feel better." 

"I just...it's just...too much..." Left Hand admitted in the quietest voice Alucard had ever heard from the parasite. 

"I know. Don't worry about it," D replied as he walked off toward his horse supporting Left Hand with his right. 

Cocking an eyebrow in surprise, Alucard held out a hand for Ghost. The eerie-appearing familiar obediently came to him and floated just over Alucard's hand. 

"Thank you, Ghost," Alucard said. He felt a bit silly talking to Ghost, who was the least interactive and communicative of his familiars. The rest of them could speak directly to him, now that Bat had been transformed to something of a vampire bat. Alucard hadn't found a way to speak directly with Ghost, but he reasoned that Ghost appeared to be a glowing, flaming human skull, so perhaps the familiar understood human speech. 

"I'm going to summon Fairy now, but I wanted to thank you for your help," Alucard finished lamely. Ghost chattered his teeth at him and began to float upward. 

"I really have to learn more about him," Alucard mused as Fairy floated down. 

"Ghost? He doesn't talk much about himself," Fairy told him. "He's very private!" 

"Fairy...when D comes back...don't tease Left Hand too much, okay?" Alucard asked out of the blue. 

"I saw. We were watching," Fairy told him. "Why don't you get some parts from this nasty dragon thing?" 

"Parts?" 

"Yes. The crest might be useful, some of the blood and the scales too," Fairy suggested. "I'm sensing faint magic from them." 

"Oh. You think they might be useful to Val?" Alucard asked. 

"Could be. And you'd be busy when D and Left Hand come back, so it wouldn't be awkward," Fairy concluded. 

Alucard smiled. He could see why Fairy was Bat's best friend. She was smart, but she was kind too. He started cutting at the base of the crest with the blade of his sword. Fairy dug a vial out from his pack to store the dragon's ichor in. 

D walked up just as Alucard finished scraping the last of the 'useful' dragon scales into a leather pouch. 

"Here," Alucard handed the pouch to D. "Fairy thinks Val might find a use for these. She senses magic from them." 

"Thank you," D accepted the pouch. "What brings you here?" 

"Castlevania rises," Alucard told D. "I can feel it. Normally I would go and deal with it, but eeD has taken hostages. Why, I don't know. If I go take care of Castlevania, I'm certain he will kill them. So I have a problem." 

"Where are these hostages? I'm certain I can..." 

"No, D," Alucard shook his head to emphasize his protest. "I've been warned that if you get involved with eeD too soon, you'll be killed. And...uhm, I'm going to need you for the final fight with eeD," he finished awkwardly. 

"Who gave you this warning?" 

"Caludra. She's helped me before, D. Her information has always been sound. She knows what she's talking about." 

"Caludra? Undoubtedly a daughter of Dracula from her name," D sighed. "So, why are you here? If I can't get involved with eeD too early and it's not yet time, what can I do?" 

Alucard grinned. 

"Conquer Castlevania." 

"What?!" 

"Go in my place, fight the monsters and thread the labyrinth that is Castlevania, defeat Father and protect the people there. I know you're strong and resourceful enough that I won't have to worry. Then I can focus all my attention on getting the innocent people away from eeD." 

"Die!" a voice screamed. "Die, die, die, die, die!" 

"Is he still bothering you?!" Alucard demanded, vaulting out of the way of the crazed mutant. 

"I haven't found a way to make him stay dead yet," D retorted, drawing his sword and letting the mutant skewer itself as it charged him in a blind rage. 

"We have more than that idiot mutant who won't stay dead to worry about. While you two have been chit-chatting, it's been getting dark. Those..." Left Hand shuddered, "...things will be coming out soon, D!" 

D looked up at the dying sunlight. "He's right. The creatures that live in this wood are bothersome at night." 

"'Bothersome'?! 'Bothersome'? What's wrong with you D! They tried to cook and eat me last time!" Left Hand shrieked. 

Fairy made a face at that. "Cook and eat? Why? And...uhm, how?" 

"They crept up on D after whammying him with some sort of sleeping spell, cut me off, rammed a spit through me and started roasting away!" Left Hand cried out. 

"What?!" Alucard turned to look at D. D nodded. 

"I am aware this time. That shouldn't happen again." 

"'Shouldn't'?! 'Shouldn't'?! You weren't almost cooked alive, D! I was! 'Shouldn't' isn't good enough!" Left Hand inhaled a tremendous amount of air and continued ranting. 

Alucard had had enough. He reached out and grabbed Left Hand, lifting D's arm and the parasite up so that it had no choice but to look Alucard in the face. 

"Shut up," Alucard told him. 

"Why?" Left Hand demanded, momentarily stunned from his diatribe. 

"Because if you do, I can get us out of this wood before night. Is that reason enough for you?" 

"You can do that? Oh, Lambchop, why didn't ya just say so?! Get us out of here and you won't hear a peep from me for the rest of the night!" 

"That'll be the day," D said just loud enough to be heard. 

Fairy giggled. 

-------------   
Author's notes - Obviously (well, I hope it's obvious at any rate) this isn't the end of the story. I have never tried to tell a story from a flashback point of view before. With a bit of luck, I don't make a disaster of it. Hopefully, this story will serve as a bridge from Insult of the Right Hand to the as yet unnamed sequel as well. Don't worry! I'm working on that too! 

I have no idea why Left Hand had a breakdown! Poor little annoying parasite! 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   
  
  
  
  



	2. Come Into My Parlor

**CastleDvania - Chapter Two**

"So what happened then?" Dracula asked, clasping his hands together and leaning forward. 

"Alucard took us to his sanctuary," D replied. 

"Using the amulet?" 

D nodded. 

"Good, good. He's learning how to use it," Dracula observed. 

"Why is that good?" Fairy dared to ask. 

Dracula turned his head to look at her. Fairy uttered a small cry and hid behind D's shoulder again. 

Dracula kept his voice mild as he answered her question. "Alucard is going to have to use every tool at his disposal to beat eeD." 

"You know about that?" D asked. 

"Yes. Carmilla never knew when to quit," Dracula seemed disgusted. "But continue with your story, D. What is Alucard's sanctuary like?" 

******** 

"Alucard!" 

Startled by the overly teasing tone, Alucard looked up. D was...grinning at him. He blinked. D was still grinning. 

"Uhm...yes?" 

"Come on...a coffin?!" D pointed. "You actually sleep in a coffin?!" 

"Well, it is a sleep like death," Alucard began defensively. D raised an eyebrow. 

"It's...comfortable. I'm locked away from the world until it needs me. If people were to find and enter my sanctuary, they would have to be pretty bold to actually open it and wake me." 

D's smile faded as he understood. 

"A last line of defense. But are you defending the world from your tainted blood...or yourself from the world?" 

"Stop being so insightful!" Alucard grumbled. "This is serious! We have to talk." 

"So, talk." 

"Castlevania is different each time. Some elements remain the same, Father is always the last major monster you must defeat, but the layout of the castle changes and the challenges change too. Sometimes it's like a giant puzzle that must be solved, other times it's just endless fighting." 

"'Endless'?" 

"With what I've learned chasing eeD, and using Father's amulet to do it, I suspect that Dracula draws monsters from other dimensions to the castle. The only sure way to protect the people around it is to fight through until you find Father's chamber and defeat him. Once you do that, Castlevania sinks into the ground again, and everyone is safe for another 100 years." 

"It seems simple enough," D noted. 

"D. I want you to have this, on loan until you solve the castle," Alucard handed D a card. D glanced down and recognized Fairy's familiar card. His eyes widened slightly. 

"She's been there before, so she should be able to help you. I discussed it with her and she doesn't mind following your orders. It's a handicap for you that you don't have other forms. I'm hoping that Fairy's knowledge will help outweigh that so you can solve the castle." 

"I will take care of her," D promised. 

"I know," Alucard replied simply. "Now, as far as bosses..." 

"Bosses?" 

"I heard the term somewhere once, and it stuck. Say when you enter, the first chamber has waves after waves of zombies. You'll have to fight through them to get to the door on other side of the room. The next room might be full of specters. You'll fight through several chambers filled with undead things and then have to fight a powerful undead to get at the next door or find the key you need or something else to be able to advance. That powerful undead might be a demon specter, or perhaps the soul of an evil mage. That would be the 'boss monster' and they are usually powerful or difficult fights. Unfortunately, you have to fight them or you can't go further. The final boss is...Dracula." 

"You really are an expert at this, aren't you?" D asked softly. 

"Regrettably. I'd never ask you to do this, D, fight against father, if there were another way," Alucard told him seriously. 

D thought about that. 

"We will see what happens when I get to him," he finally replied. 

Alucard nodded. 

"You know I wouldn't trust anyone else with this." 

D flicked a glance at him. Alucard grinned. "Right! Well, I should be going. The full moon tonight will raise Castlevania." 

D nodded. "Good luck with eeD." 

"Right. eeD." Alucard looked pensive. "Good luck with Father!" 

******** 

"You two..." Dracula mused. D lifted an eyebrow. "Two peas in a pod! Cut from the same cloth!" 

D just stared at his father, wondering how it was that he and Alucard were so much alike with each other and yet so fundamentally different from their father. 

"So...what does it look like, when Castlevania rises? I've never seen it..." Dracula asked curiously. 

D smiled slightly. "Oh, you would like it. All mist in the moonlight, foreboding, end of the world as we know it theatrical. Just like you. One feels there should be a symphony playing a dirge in the night when the castle rises from the ground." 

Dracula clapped his hands like a delighted child. 

"For you to wax so poetic about it, it must be something to see! One of these times I will definitely have to see it somehow!" 

D lifted an eyebrow again. Dracula was assuming he'd win their fight. Dracula just smirked. 

******** 

"Let's go home, D!" Left Hand suggested. 

D glared at Left Hand. 

"Come on...look at that place!" Left Hand turned slightly to point toward Castlevania. Massive stone grey walls, seemingly pulled from the deepest earth, reached taloned turrets into the air as if the castle itself were seeking to rip the moon from the sky. "We haven't even gone inside and that place scares the piss right outta me!" 

D frowned at Left Hand's explicitly grotesque image. 

"We're going in," he said. They did. 

******** 

The first chamber did have wave after wave of monsters, just as Alucard said it might, but they weren't zombies. They were rats. 

Not just any rats, huge scaly mutant rats. They hissed in anger at D's intrusion. A wave of angry, saber-fanged vermin rolled toward him. 

Left Hand took in a deep breath. 

"Don't complain. We're not leaving, so stifle it," D advised as he slashed through the lead rat. 

"I wasn't going to complain," Left Hand protested. "For you information, I was going to scream," Left Hand informed him with stiff dignity. 

"I know! I'll count instead!" Left Hand decided brightly. 

"So...how many?" D asked, almost gasping, a little while later. He had managed to fight through to the door on the other side of the room. 

"Two hundred and eighty-nine!" Left Hand applauded. 

D looked toward the closed door. "And who knows how many more monsters until we find Dracula." 

"Only Father would come up with something this twisted," D muttered. His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. "All right. Let's go." 

-------------   
Author's notes - I'm sorry this chapter is so short. Someone needs to get Left Hand to stop rattling around in my head! It's not enough that I'm writing a story with him and D, he demanded to have his own story too, so I had to pause this story to write Sinister. He's just so annoying! 

On the plus side, the real sequel to Insult is finally gelling in my mind. Too bad (for me) it's grown into epic proportions. I do have to finish three other (non-VHD) stories here on ff.net though before I can really start writing it. The outline is coming along nicely though. 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   



	3. Near Death Experience

**Chapter Three - Near Death Experience**

"Still befriending mortals, I see. I'll not ask that you return to our side, but I demand you cease your attack!" 

"Oh, Death," D recognized the being from Alucard's warning. "Out of my way!" 

"Who the hell are you?! Where's Alucard?!" 

"Alucard is otherwise engaged. Castlevania is my concern this rising," D told him. 

"Hmm..." Death stilled, seemingly staring at D with his empty eye sockets. "A son of Dracula. I suppose it's unprecedented, but Alucard does have that eeD situation..." 

Death shook himself suddenly. "No matter! If you challenge Castlevania you are MY concern!" 

Death gestured. "Heh, heh, heh! See how far you get without your weapon and armor!" 

D smiled. Death gestured again. 

D walked up to him. Death gestured a final, frantic time. 

D slowly drew the sword that was still very much in his possession. Death tried to defend with his scythe. D grabbed the bony wrist, overbearing Death's strength to push the scythe out of his way to smash Death's head with the pommel of his sword. 

Death's skull satisfactorily exploded into thousands of shards. Death dropped to his knees and started to feel around for the scattered pieces of his pate. 

"That was uncalled for! I am just doing my job!" Death complained. 

"So am I," D replied, stepping around the master specter to enter the next chamber of the castle. 

"Hee, hee! That was funny, D! You have no respect! The spirit of Death himself! What are you going to do next? Shave the wolf man?" Left Hand crowed. 

Fairy glanced over her shoulder as she entered the archway. Death had paused his frantic searching for the pieces of his own head and, though he had no eyes, sockets or even a skull to see with, seemed to be staring after them malevolently. Fairy shivered and hurried to hide behind D's arm from that baleful gaze. 

"I think Death is angry with you!" she muttered. 

******** 

"Who're you?" 

D whirled. It was extraordinarily unusual for anyone to be able to sneak up on him. He'd been completely unaware that anyone was behind him! 

He watched as a form scrambled out of a nook hidden in the wall. He relaxed a bit at that. As the form straightened, D could see it was a human...a young human girl. She seemed to be far too young to be in a horrible place like this! 

"D. And you?" 

"Oh, real talkative! I'm Olivia! Olivia Belmont. Let me guess, you're the half-vampire son of Dracula who helped my ancestress! But...you had silver hair back then...she mentioned that in her diary..." the girl replied. D placed her age at about twelve, maybe thirteen. 

"No, that would have been Alucard," D replied. 

"Right! That was the name in the diary! You know him?" Olivia seemed pleased. "I've always wanted to meet him! He sounds...cool!" 

"Aw, look! 'Card has a groupie!" Left Hand chimed up. 

D tightened his hand silencing Left Hand before the child took notice of the parasite. 

"Master Alucard couldn't come to Castlevania this time," Fairy flitted down to talk to the child. "So D, his brother, is taking care of it this time in his place. But why are you here?" 

"Oooh! Are you Fairy?! Alucard's Fairy?! So cool!" The child seemed delighted. "It's like Lady Maria's diary is come to life!" 

"Isn't that diary full of monsters too?" Fairy asked. 

"Yeah..." 

"So why are you here?" D asked. 

For an answer Olivia drew herself up tall. At her tallest, she still only came up to D's waist. 

"I'm a Belmont. It's my family duty to enter Castlevania, solve the maze, confront Dracula and defeat him." If not for the very serious air of the child, and her obvious fear, D would have laughed. She was so ridiculous if she thought she could take Dracula! Fortunately, she was yet too young for Dracula to 'take' her instead, though he might turn her. 

"Go home," D ordered. "I will take care of Castlevania." 

The child blinked up at him. 

"How rude!" she stuck her tongue out at D, bolted for the hole in the wall again, and disappeared. 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

I know it's terribly short, but I've been staring at this chapter for days and not coming up with any idea of where to take this next. I don't want to simply transcribe Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with D substituted for Alucard. That would be boring to read (and to write). 

And D is doing it to me again, denying me even the sparse conversation I can sometimes wring from him. I swear, as main characters go, he's remarkably unsympathetic to the whole give and take of the writing process! Especially the "give" part! 

Never cross an author. He's not giving with the dialog, so I'm saddling D with a 12 year old Belmont! I'll make him talk! :P 

I'm sure I'll pay for it later, though. 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com 


	4. Mist Gets In Your Eyes

Emotions run high enough in one part of this chapter that a rather impolite word slips out. It's in character and it fits, otherwise I wouldn't use it. 

**Chapter 4 - Mist Gets in Your Eyes**

D came up against a grate that completely blocked further access to the corridor. He knew it was futile, but he grasped a bar and shook it to test how solid it was. He exerted the utmost of his strength, and the bar budged not at all. 

"Dammit." His curse was in a flat voice. 

"There's no other way through," Fairy noted helplessly. 

"I know." 

"D, would you be okay, on your own, for a while?" Fairy asked. D looked at her. Surely she was kidding! Of course he'd be fine -- but what would she do? 

"Fairy, I promised Alucard nothing would happen to you. I'm not going to break that promise. What are you thinking of?" 

"Oh! I will be fine!" She blushed prettily that D was concerned for her. "I can go to your world, to see Val, and see if she can think of something to get you through that grate!" 

That he hadn't expected! D narrowed his eyes. 

"Val could probably come up with something," Left Hand offered. "This kind of problem is in her area of expertise! Of course, you're gonna have to tramp to some out of the way place to get some obscure ingredient for her when we get back as repayment..." 

"Is there any danger at all to you, Fairy? My world is just as dangerous as here," D asked. "I don't want you running into any creatures trying to find Val." 

Fairy smiled. "I can go directly to Val's side. She not usually in dangerous places, is she?" 

D considered. Actually, Val could be somewhere dangerous, knowing how intent she became when she was searching for rare ingredients. But D did have to admit, somehow Val managed to return safely from her excursions. 

"Be ready to return here, if Val is in a sticky situation," D finally advised. "You can return here, correct?" 

"Yes, Master D. I have a dimensional anchor in you. And you have my familiar card too. I can return right to your side!" 

"Okay then. Perhaps Val can help somehow." 

Fairy floated up toward the ceiling and vanished. D looked up and down the quiet corridor before sitting down with his back against a wall. 

"Wake me if something comes," he told Left Hand. 

"Hey, how come you get to take a nap and I have to watch?!" Left Hand protested. 

"Because I've been doing all the fighting," D retorted. "Wake me if something comes," he repeated. 

"Yippee," Left Hand groused. "I'm a guard dog. Arf, arf." 

"Shut up." 

D pulled his hat down over his eyes to block the light, placed Left Hand on the ground so he could watch the entrance and quickly fell asleep. 

-------- 

Fairy rapidly found her bearings once she stepped through the dimensional portal into D's world. It wasn't hard, since she was able to sense faintly where Val was. She smiled happily at that fact. Val's blood must have strengthened, for Fairy to sense her so strongly. That meant Val would be around for a very long time, hopefully to be a friend of D's for a very long time. 

Fairy had wondered a bit at her motivations when she first mentioned Val's problem to Alucard. It wasn't for Val herself that Fairy had done such a thing. And it certainly wasn't her normal tendency toward kindness that prompted her either, not given the ultimate truth of the origin of Val's nature. 

"It was for D," Fairy said aloud. "He's my master's brother and for whatever reason he likes Val's company. It was for him." 

Pushing down her unsettling thoughts, for normally she didn't second-guess her actions so much, Fairy flew off in the direction where the Blood of Fae called to her. 

-------- 

"Oh," Val stated flatly upon seeing Fairy. "What do you want?" 

"I need your help," Fairy stated. "Can I come in? I've come a long way..." 

Val's mouth thinned into a reproving line, but she did step aside, tacitly inviting Fairy in. Fairy fluttered gratefully to alight on the back of a chair and rest her weary wings. 

"What help do you need from me?" Val's voice contained only the duty of courtesy, with no hint of warmth or welcome in it. 

"D had to go to Castlevania..." 

"D? D. This is for D?" Val interrupted. "Is he okay?" 

Fairy nodded. "Master D is fine, but there's only so far he can go with his skills in the castle, and I thought you might be able to help him." 

Val stared at Fairy for a long moment. Her features were marred by unhappy irritation before she finally sighed and sat down in the chair across from the one Fairy rested on. 

"Tell me from the beginning," she suggested wearily. 

-------- 

Fairy watched as Val selected ingredients for the potion she claimed would help D. She thought that Val was normally rather graceful, but her awareness of Fairy's very presence was making her clumsy. There was something about Val's clipped gestures and nervousness that seemed familiar somehow... 

Oh, that was it. Val was acting as people did when something like a stinging insect or spider was in the room. It was that same kind of hyper-aware irritation at the very existence of the insect. 

"Why do you hate me so much?" The question slipped out in a soft voice. 

"Oh, I don't hate you. You seem a nice enough sort for one of your kind." 

"But, living with the suspicions I had about what I was," Val shrugged her shoulders. "That was bad enough. I aged so slowly and could see things, like the souls and destinies of others, so clearly. Meeting you was okay, I suppose, but then having my suspicions proven...well, I could wish I had never met you." The neutral intensity in Val's eyes as she locked gazes with Fairy held the force of a glare. 

"It's almost intolerable that Alucard and D know now what I am. This is a harsh world where such frivolous things as fairies died out long ago." 

"To think that I...well, that in me there is some blood of..." Val couldn't bring herself to mention it. 

'Frivolous? _Frivolous_?! I'm not frivolous!' Fairy thought. Didn't this ungrateful creature realize that she would be able to live out her immortal span because of what Fairy had done for her? 

Fairy saw red. She'd tried her best to extend a helping hand to this creature. She should have known, Dark Elves could smile out one side of their mouths and plot your death with the other. Evidently, Dark Elven blood, even diluted through the years, was dominant. 

"If you hate it so much, if you hate the truth of what you are -- if you hate _yourself _that much -- just stop taking the herb. You would die soon enough." Fairy shrugged her wings delicately. 

'How _DARE_ she?! How dare she suggest something like that?!' The thought raged through Val's mind. The little gossamer-winged bitch! Val found herself blinking back unaccustomed tears of frustration and a sudden, stabbing hurt. Angrily she reached for an ingredient jar, managing to brush her sleeve against her eye as she did so, to dash out the tears without the stupid fairy noticing. 

She added a pinch of whatever ingredient it was to her potion, reasoning that a single pinch of any one thing wouldn't harm anything. Her potion would still work as it was supposed to. And D had that lovely strong constitution _his_ heritage gave him. Val wondered bitterly if even poison could hurt him. Unlike herself, who was descended from flighty, weak, absurd little fairies... 

"Here. This will help D get past whatever barriers are in his way. Unless he needs something else you are not welcome here again. Do you understand?" 

Fairy listened to Val's tight, strained words. As if she'd want to come back here for any other reason! Only for D, or Alucard, would she have anything to do with this odious creature! 

"Perhaps once Master Alucard and Master D have no further use for you, you might consider discontinuing using the herb?" Fairy replied in a light, bitter voice. 

"Go." 

Val turned the knob, and stood with stiff, prickly pride by the open door. Fairy wondered if she'd angered the Dark Elven creature enough to try to slam the door on her and considered dashing through as quickly as she could. But she couldn't bring herself to show such weakness to one descended from some of the most bitter foes of her kind. 

Val was very much tempted to catch the arrogant fairy with the door and see if she could crush every bone in her delicate little body. She'd never gone through the cruel stage of childhood of tearing the wings off of flies or butterflies, but the dark hatred rising in her made her wish she could visit that horror on the cruel little fairy. However, she refused to weaken and give Fairy the satisfaction of making her do anything she wouldn't normally do. It was bad enough she was brought to tears in front of her. 

Once Fairy had gotten outside and flown out of sight, Val slammed the door, trying to vent some of the powerful emotions tearing at her heart. Her anger dissipated with the last booming echo of sound from the wooden door, but some deeper, most destructive emotion remained in its wake. 

Val turned her back to the door and slid down along it until she was on the ground. Something bleak and awful griped her heart tight. Once more, by herself, alone, she threw her dignity to the wind, dropped her head into her hands, and sobbed. 

--------------------- 

Author's notes - 

Finally! A bit of a breakthrough in this story. I am truly sorry for the long delay. 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

Could someone please email me and tell me how to get to stop killing my paragraph indents? I've been trying all night to preserve them to no avail! 


	5. Tangled Threads

**Chapter Five – Tangled Threads**

"Fairy seemed to be upset and rather grim when she came back," D noted.

Dracula nodded. D, of course, couldn't have seen what happened to Fairy in D's world, but he could -- and did.

"It's a good thing they are from two separate dimensions," Dracula said aloud.

"But tell me, D, what happened on the other side of the grate?" He grinned wickedly.

D turned a such blank look on his father that Dracula took it to be the impatient glare that D intended.

"Val's instructions were..."

--------

"I'm not drinking that!" Left Hand declared. "I don't care if Val made it, it looks nasty!"

"I don't blame you!" Fairy declared. She flew up to a crossbeam of the ceiling of the room ironically carved, as so many of Castlevania's interior decorations were, in the form of a beautiful angel.

D blinked after her for a long moment, for he'd never seen her in such a negative mood, before turning his attention back to the matter at hand -- Left Hand that is.

"We cannot proceed unless we can get through this grate. Val made the potion so that you can take it and in that way it can affect me."

"So, if I don't take it, you can't go forward? Good! I want to go home anyway! This place is scary, D!"

D just stared at him, wondering how silly he'd look if he tried to force Left Hand's mouth open to pour the potion in. Pretty silly, he'd wager. Also, it would be most embarrassing if he couldn't manage to do it. The leverage of such a move seemed that it might be a problem. Besides, he didn't want to give Left Hand the satisfaction of winning their argument by forcing the parasite physically. Not where there were other methods available.

"Okay then," D told Left Hand in a low tone.

"Great! So, can we go home? Since we can't go forward that is?" Left Hand began brightly.

"No. I made a promise to Alucard that I intend to keep," D told him before balling Left Hand up into a fist.

"Mmmph! What, what are you doing, D!"

"I have to get past this grate," D told him before punching one of the bars as hard as he could.

"OWW! That hurts, D!"

"I suspect it does," D answered calmly before balling Left Hand up again and punching at a different bar. "I wonder if you will give out or the bars will first?"

--------

Dracula reached over at that and picked up D's left hand. He turned it this way and that inspecting the back of it for bruises.

"I heal fast, Father," D noted.

Dracula nodded absently and turned his son's hand over. Left Hand glared with murderous rage up into his eyes.

Dracula laughed. "Delightful! Obviously you got past the grate. What was on the other side?"

--------

"Finally!" D concealed his surprise at hearing a voice as Left Hand returned him to solid form again. It was a light, child's voice at that. He looked up to see the Belmont child, "Olivia" if he recalled her first name correctly, sitting on a worked stone partition in the vast room revealed now that he was beyond the grate.

Not quite knowing what to say, D checked that his sword harness was tight and that he cloak wouldn't hamper him when he next went to draw his sword. He was certain he would need it soon.

"Not very talkative, are you? That's okay. Lady Maria's diary said that Alucard didn't talk much as first either!" D wondered what was with Left Hand's sudden gagging. He counted himself fortunate that the child's bright prattle as she gave more details of her "Lady Maria's" diary masked the sounds of Left Hand's distress.

Olivia finally stopped, hopped down off the wall and grinned up at him. "Are you ready to go on?"

D blinked at her. How on earth did she...

She didn't let him complete his thought. She darted up, grabbed his hand, and started tugging.

"Oh, you might want to take your sword out. The next room is full of icky spiders!"

--------

"'Icky spiders'? Simply marvelous!" Dracula beamed.

"She could have warned me that they were twelve feet tall," D complained mildly.

Dracula laughed.

D shook his head.

"What's wrong, D?"

"Why do you do this, Father?"

"Ah, now that's a secret!" Dracula winked, and smiled even more deeply, baring his sharp, gleaming fangs. D merely lifted an eyebrow at his father's theatrics.

"After the spiders..."

"Oh, no! I want to hear all about _this_ fight, first!"

Sighing, D complied. "The first spider dropped on me from a web above. It seemed to have an unnatural interest in my hand..."

--------

"Get it off! Get it off!" Left Hand shouted frantically. "D, it's trying to smother me!"

The rest of Left Hand's complaints were indeed smothered by the web suddenly adhering D's hand to the wall. His first slash nicked the giant spider's leg forcing it to jump back, giving him a moment to bring his sword around to slash apart the threads sticking him to the wall. The tip of his long, curved sword clinked uselessly against the wall several feet from where Left Hand was trapped.

While D was pondering the success of dropping his sword to tear at the sticky threads with his right hand, concerned that both his hands might then become stuck, Olivia darted forward with a dagger, parted the threads neatly and freed a half-asphyxiated Left Hand.

"Cough! Cough! Sputter!"

Olivia stared at Left Hand's gasping face and went still with shock.

"Back! Out of the way!" D shouted, turning and shoving Olivia behind him as the giant spider charged again. His swung his sword through the space where the girl had just been to skewer the over-grown arachnid.

A soft thump sounded behind him, nearly hidden under the half-squishy, half-crunchy sound of his sword slicing through the spider's body.

"Did I..?"

"Yeah, way to go, D. You knocked her unconscious!" Left Hand reported.

* * *

Author's notes - Pinning down where this story is supposed to go and exactly what tone it's supposed to have is like trying to catch a shadow. This chapter seems to be a bit closer to what I'm looking for -- going back and forth between D and Dracula's conversation about what happened and flashbacks to the actual events, but I'm not sure. It could be too disjointed, so feedback about this is definitely appreciated! 

Next Chapter – Uhm...more fighting? Well, after D helps Olivia recover from his "protective action" first...

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

Stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	6. Crush of Destiny

**Chapter Six -- The Crush of Destiny**

D kicked the last gory chunk of broken spider bits away, and gave the room a final searching glare, scanning for any signs that any giant crawlers were still alive, before kneeling next to the unconscious child.

His hand was gentle as he smoothed the hair from her face. He was relieved to sense the even beat of her heart, though he was worried that she hadn't yet regained consciousness.

"She's okay, D. Nothing's broken, she just hit the wall a little too hard," Left Hand offered.

"Children shouldn't have to fear me," D stated. "I should have been more careful."

"Well, yeah, duh. You get the Mister Obvious Award for today. Still, she's okay. You didn't hurt her in any lasting way."

"How is it your attempts at offering comfort are anything but comforting?" D muttered to Left Hand.

"Oh, yeah. Like with a mug like this I'm supposed to be all sunshine, roses and lollipops? Get real, D. What are we going to do now?"

"Wait for her to regain consciousness, I suppose."

"Not here, I hope. Those dead spiders are starting to reek already!"

"Are they? I hadn't noticed."

"HAH! If I believed that, I'd buy a bridge from ya, too. Come on, D. Grab the kid and let's get outta here!"

It galled D to admit it, but the parasite did have a point. The dead spiders did smell dreadful. He wondered that the stench hadn't woken Olivia up yet. He gathered her into his arms as gently as he could, finally settling her against his left side with her head cradled against his shoulder. He used his left arm to brace and steady her, so that his right hand was free to go for his sword to defend them against whatever monster his father's castle decided to throw at them next.

He was totally unprepared for the high-pitched shriek that sounded an inch from his ear a few minutes later.

"HE'S SO CUTE!"

"_There's nothing wrong with her lungs_," D thought wryly as he lifted Olivia to the ground. Maybe a bit of distance between her nearly supersonic exuberance and his ears would preserve some of his highly sensitive hearing -- though he rather doubted it.

"Who is so cute?" D cringed that the word 'cute' passed his lips.

"YOUR HAND! HE'S GOT SUCH AN ADORABLE FACE! CAN I SEE HIM? PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE?"

"Stop shouting, Olivia!" D nearly shouted at her. Immediately she shut her mouth and looked up at him with huge, stunned eyes.

"You were hurting my ears. Please stop shouting," D asked more reasonably.

"Uhm, okay. Why does everyone tell me to be quiet and that I hurt their ears? I don't get it. I don't hurt MY ears at all," Olivia prattled brightly, presumably to D.

Meanwhile, D turned up his Left Hand and looked at the face trapped within his palm. He got the distinct impression of a shrug from his hand.

"Maybe she hit the wall harder than we thought," Left Hand reasoned.

--------

D looked up at his father reprovingly when a sound suspiciously like a snerk passed through those cruelly smiling lips.

"I suppose I shall have to deal with the child," Dracula finally noted once he regained his composure. "She's not the Belmont who's supposed to confront me this rising, though. She has no chance of defeating me. Pity. She would have grown up into a rather winsome woman if not for her impetuous act of entering my castle."

"You would kill her, Father?" D asked in a deceptively soft voice.

Dracula shrugged. "It is merely the way of things. She's a Belmont, one of the only bloodline of humans capable of defeating me -- even if only temporarily -- but she is not the Belmont who was destined to defeat me this rising. That would have been Basil's son, if Basil had lived to produce a child. Of course, he, too, tried to confront me before his appointed time, and paid the ultimate price. These untimely risings of Castlevania are creating problems with the various prophecies, I'm afraid. Still, I can hardly let Olivia live. I might regret the necessity, but the only way for a Belmont to leave Castlevania alive is for me to be defeated. Do you honestly believe Olivia can take me?"

D sighed. He'd already had this very discussion with Olivia.

--------

"You should go," D suggested, yet again.

"No!" Olivia balled up her fists and yelled up at him. "I'm a Belmont, my Dad's too scared to come, and my brother is too little! It has to be me!"

D stared down into the child's upturned face. Tears clung to her eyelashes, though D admired the willpower she displayed in not permitting them to fall. He wasn't entirely certain if her tears were of frustration at him for repeatedly telling her to leave, or at her dangerous situation, or fear that she had indeed undertaken a task so far beyond her abilities that she had no way to fulfill it.

"You do realize that at the end of the trials of the castle there is a final fight with Dracula, the Lord of All Vampires?" he asked softly. "Only then will Castlevania rest."

"I -- I KNOW!" Olivia shrieked up at him. "But, I'm a Belmont. If my Dad doesn't do this, and my brother can't..." She sniffled, to avoid crying. "Someone has to stand up to Dracula and Castlevania, or else... The people around here have no way to defend themselves from the monsters. We Belmonts have fought Castlevania and Lord Dracula for so long, they don't know how."

"Your ancestress, Lady Maria, was she the Belmont who was supposed to face Dracula all those years ago?" Fairy asked. "Wasn't it Master Alucard who defeated Dracula that rising?"

"No... Well, yes, but that wasn't a true rising..." Olivia's face twisted up in thought. "Okay, it was a true rising, but it wasn't at the right time. Shaft forced Castlevania to rise early. That's how Alucard was the one to defeat Dracula -- instead of a Belmont. Lady Maria really wasn't a Belmont then, even. This is a rising at the proper time, so it should be a Belmont that -- that..."

D knew that Alucard felt a direct responsibility to protect people from Castlevania, and their Father, now. He wondered how that played in with what seemed to be the destined task of this Belmont family. Perhaps Alucard was merely the failsafe in case the Belmonts failed?

"Look, chickie, if ya can't even say it, how're you gonna do it?" Left Hand demanded. "You came into his castle of horrors with the idea that you could face off against Dracula, kill him, and force the castle dormant again, didn't ya?"

"Y--Yes..."

"What legendary weapon do you have to defeat the 'lord of the castle'?" Left Hand sneered over the title.

"Dad keeps the ancestral weapons locked up. I couldn't get one of them. Besides, he never did teach me how to use the whip," Olivia admitted.

"Do you even have a weapon?" D asked.

"Of course I do! It's just ordinary. Not legendary, but it's all I have." Olivia reached around to pull something from its hiding place in the waistband at the small of her back and deposited it into D's waiting hand.

"Ye gods!" Left Hand exclaimed. "The witless chickie thinks to fell the Lord of All Vampires with a slingshot?!"

---------------------

Author's notes:

Not dead yet -- or maybe rising from the grave. Between various computer crashes (and losing chunks of writing each time) and persistent muses from other fandoms (I'm glaring at you, Seto Kaiba), it's been hard to work my way back to my favorite dhampirs. Hopefully, I can focus on this story for a while and finally get it finished.

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!


End file.
